ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 458
(By Senators Buckalew and Yoder)
____________
[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 23, 1996.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section ten-b, article two, chapter
sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to assaults on
police officers; modifying definitions to include persons
designated as humane officers within the term "police
officer" when enforcing certain laws; making technical
modifications regarding laws relating to assaults on police
officers; and penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten-b, article two, chapter sixty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-10b. Malicious assault; unlawful assault; battery and recidivism of battery; assault on police officers,
conservation officers, county or state correctional
officers or designated humane officers; penalties.
(a)
Malicious assault. -- If any Any person
who maliciously
shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any means causes bodily
injury with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill a police
officer, county correctional officer or state correctional
officer acting in his or her official capacity and
the person
committing the malicious assault knows or has reason to know
that the victim is a police officer, conservation officer,
county correctional officer or state correctional officer acting
in his or her official capacity,
then the offender shall be is
guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction, shall be punished by
confinement in the penitentiary not less than three nor more
than fifteen years.
(b)
Unlawful assault. -- If any Any person
who unlawfully
but not maliciously shoots, stabs, cuts or wounds or by any
means causes a police officer, conservation officer, county
correctional officer acting in his or her official capacity or
state correctional officer bodily injury with intent to maim,
disfigure, disable or kill said officer and
the person
committing the unlawful assault knows or has reason to know that
the victim is a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional officer or state correctional officer acting in his
or her official capacity,
then the offender is guilty of a
felony, and, upon conviction, shall be confined to the
penitentiary for a period of not less than two years nor more
than five years.
(c)
Battery. -- If any Any person
who unlawfully and
intentionally makes physical contact of an insulting or
provoking nature with a police officer, conservation officer,
county correctional officer or state correctional officer acting
in his or her official capacity, or unlawfully and intentionally
causes physical harm to a police officer, conservation officer,
county correctional officer or state correctional officer acting
in such capacity,
said person is guilty of a misdemeanor, and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be confined to the county or
regional jail for a period of not less than forty-eight hours
nor more than twelve months or fined the sum of five hundred
dollars or both.
If any Any person
who commits a second
such
offense, then such person violation of this section is guilty of
a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined
in the county or regional jail for a period of not less than ten
days nor more than twelve months. Any person who commits a
third violation of this section is guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in the penitentiary for a
period of not less than one year nor more than five years or
fined not more than one thousand dollars or both.
(d)
Assault. -- If any Any person
who unlawfully attempts
to commit a violent injury to the person of a police officer,
conservation officer, county correctional officer or state
correctional officer, or unlawfully commits an act which places
a police officer, conservation officer, county correctional
officer or state correctional officer
, acting in his or her
official capacity
, in reasonable apprehension of immediately
receiving a violent injury,
he shall be is guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in
the county or regional jail for not less than twenty-four hours
nor more than six months, or fined not more than two hundred
dollars, or both
such fine and imprisonment.
(e)
Police officer defined. -- As used in this section,
a
"police officer" means any officer employed by the
division of
public safety state police or, any county law-enforcement
agency, any police officer employed by any city or municipality
,
or any deputy sheriff or county dog warden designated to act as
a humane officer who is responsible for the prevention or
detection of crime,
and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of this state
or the enforcement of the laws of
this state relating to animal cruelty.